Category Archives: College

I can’t say there was ever a moment over these last eighteen years where I was absolutely sure my spectrum kiddo would go to college.

We were not that kid.

I can remember last week, before school actually began, when we went to the disability office and I had a mom-moment of panic and I wanted to ask the director if I was delusional to think we were ready for this. I was very concerned that I was overestimating our abilities and setting him up for failure.

What I’ve realized this last week as I’ve watched him successfully and imperfectly navigate his first week of life on a CSU campus is that sometimes the well intended parents we are need to step out of our kids way. We need to TRY to stop fretting and rounding everything off to the nearest disaster and let the children be themselves….imperfectly perfect.

No, it’s not a slam dunk.

Yes, there will be moments of struggle. We are not perfect. He still has communication struggles. He still has organizational struggles. That’s just us. He is a work in progress….as am I. He will make mistakes and that’s okay because that’s part of life for all of us. This week I remembered that parents need to take a deep breath, loosen up those apron strings and let the kiddos blossom into the adults they are meant to be….with flaws and imperfections like we all have…and keep on breathing. The ‘keep on breathing’ part is the hardest part ❤️

I won’t candy coat anything and tell you the road isn’t long, hard and weary. It is.

And I won’t tell you it’s easy to be the bad guy against the school district every year because it isn’t…..but I promise you it’s worth every struggle, every fight and all the hard work pays off on that one day when you get to watch your spectrum kiddo defy the odds against him when he walks onto his college campus alone on that first day of his freshman year in college ❤️